If you have been following this blog, you know that the Foundation for Enterprise Development recently released a new film about Employee Ownership titled We the Owners. My daughter Mary Ann Beyster recently returned from a successful trip to Europe to promote the film within a variety of universities and business groups.

The FED has posted highlights of the eleven screenings in nine cities on Facebook. The FED and Passage Productions were also at We the Owners first public film festival, located in San Luis Obispo. Photos and highlights can be seen on the Facebook page.

From what I have heard from my daughter, interest in the film, and in employee ownership, was high. The Ohio Employee Ownership Center ran a cover story in the organization’s Spring 2013 issue of Owners @ Work in the form of a Q&A with Mary Ann about the film, how it came about, and what the FED hopes to achieve with it. I think you will find it of interest.

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According to a Washington Post article, nuclear energy in this country is again suffering a decline, mostly as a result of the high cost of building and maintaining nuclear facilities, and ongoing public concerns about safety. The safety issue was recently brought home for us here in San Diego when the San Onofre nuclear plant north of the city was shut down some time ago due to a release of radioactive gas and the discovery of unexpected wear to the metal tubes that carry water within the reactor steam generators.

I suspect that concerns about the safety of nuclear reactors in general can be solved, but it will be very expensive and difficult to attain in today’s economy. I would like to see nuclear power become a dominant force in our country, but the struggle may be too much, at least for the foreseeable future.

As one who first learned about nuclear energy when in graduate school, I’m still a believer. I remember when Walter Zinn told me that some power plant owners were attracted to nuclear plants because the costs were so high but were mirrored in the allowed costs for public utilities! Nevertheless, I remain convinced that the costs can be cut significantly if we can expedite the approval process.
A significant part of the cost problem is the irrational scare that people have for nuclear radiation because it is unseen. Well, carbon dioxide is unseen also, and may in fact be a real threat to our way of life. We discuss “green” solutions like wind and solar energy, but there may yet be a place for nuclear as part of the mix.

Joel: The thing that worries me about nuclear power is the issue of waste disposal — where are we going to put all the hot material that our nuclear power plants have been generating and will generate long into the future? I think this will limit what we are able to do with nuclear power in the long run. — Bob

Bob:
Actually, we are tapping the energy inherent in the large unstable elements (primarily uranium so far), so that the amount of hot material dcreases more rapidly than if left alone. So our problem is just to find safer places to put the hot waste.
-Joel Bengston

Joel: I think that what you’re telling me is that there’s enough heat generated by the decay of these very energetic elements to reduce the overall level of radioactivity relatively rapidly. I wonder if there are any pilot plants in the works that are trying out this approach. — Bob